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Restaurant owners open general store to hedge their bets




Chase Beasley (left) and his father, Chris Beasley, are the owners of O’Brien’s General Store in Ashland City. Chase Beasley framed the store’s sign using donated barn wood.SHARON ALICE LURIE / MAIN STREET NASHVILLE

Chase Beasley (left) and his father, Chris Beasley, are the owners of O’Brien’s General Store in Ashland City. Chase Beasley framed the store’s sign using donated barn wood.SHARON ALICE LURIE / MAIN STREET NASHVILLE

Everyone knows how tough the restaurant business has been over the past year-and-a-half due to COVID. The owners of the popular O’Brien’s Southern Diner in Ashland City decided that diversification is the key to their survival, so they have opened a second business.

O’Brien’s General Store, located in the Petway area of Cheatham County, opened last month. The owners are husband and wife Chris and Candice Beasley and their sons Chase Beasley and Peyton Ownby. The 1,500-square-foot building includes a convenience store and gas station.

According to Chris Beasley, the location has housed several convenience stores through the years but had been vacant since 2018. He said a gas station and convenience store seemed like businesses that could remain viable during the pandemic.

The store sells fishing and hunting licenses and supplies, Hunt Brothers’ pizza and wings, breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs, cold cut sandwiches and snacks. The family is building a full kitchen — which it hopes to open this month — that will offer barbecue throughout the week, bologna sandwiches, chili and other stick-to-your-ribs fare, particularly for when cold weather arrives.

 

 

The store is located next to the Cheatham Wildlife Management Area and tries to cater to the fishermen and hunters who frequent the area.

Beasley said a previous store at the same location — Duke’s Convenience Store – was a huge community hub for the Petway area in the 1980s.

“This Petway community is different from Ashland City,” Beasley said. “There’s a lot of close-knit community here. We try to look out for one another. I keep a list for folks here to write down what they’d like us to carry, so they don’t have to go all the way to Ashland City or White Bluff for what they need.”

Beasley touched on what the community meant to him growing up there.

“I said when I had kids, I would bring them back here,” he said.

The family did most of the remodeling itself and got many of the supplies, such as the flooring and mounted deer heads, donated from other area businesses.

Chase Beasley, who comes from a construction background, welcomed the opportunity to work with family.

“It’s a lot better than having a hateful boss watching over you,” he said.

Ownby, who worked with the family in the diner, said that he’d always wanted to own a gas station.

“The people that come in and support us are great,” he said. “It’s a whole different world, getting into the gas station business, but it’s been wonderful.”

Chris Beasley said that the family hopes to host a farmers market, car shows and live music events in the parking lot.

Location: 2901 Petway Rd., Ashland City. It is located next to the Cheatham Wildlife Management Area and sells a lot of products to hunters and fishermen going there.

Owners: Chase Beasley, Chris Beasley, Candice Beasley, Peyton Ownby

Hours: Daily, 5 a.m.-8 p.m.

Phone: (615) 939-8797

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